Rack-actuated air cushioned toy vehicle



Jan. 18, 1966 H. K. BROSS 3,229,410

RACK-ACTUATED AIR CUSHIONED TOY VEHICLE Filed March 20, 1964 P F G.

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BY KMk J United States Patent 3,229,410 RACK-ACTUATED AIR CUSHIONED TOY VEHICLE Helrnut Karl Bross, Altenberg uber Nurnberg, Germany, assignor of fifty percent to Frank T. Jolnnann, Berkeley Heights, NJ.

Filed Mar. 20, 1964, Ser. No. 353,678 Claims priority, application Germany, Mar. 20, 1963,

4 Claims. to. 46-1) This invention relates to toys. Particularly, it relates to air-cushioned toy vehicles which move over a surface on a cushion of air generated by a rotating fan carried by said toy.

In my prior U.S. applications, Serial Numbers 257,432 filed February 11, 1963, and 276,754, filed April 30, 1963, I disclosed various toys operated by a child pulling a flexible plastic rack which drove a pinion gear carried by a rotatable drive means, e.g. a wheel or propeller, of the toy. The present invention provides a further extension of the invention of said applications whereby a rack can be used to rotate the fan of a toy designed to move on a cushion of air. The toys of the invention are entertaining, relatively simple, easily operated by a small child, they can be inexpensively and ruggedly formed, e.g. by injection molding, and can be easily assembled, e.g. by snapping the parts together,

The invention will be understood by reference to the drawings and following description which includes a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIGURE 1 is a top view of the toy of the invention wherein the vehicle is in engagement with a pulling rack.

FIGURE 2 is a side view, partly in section, of the toy.

The toy has the annular housing or body unit indicated generally at which can be a one-piece integral plastic molding including: the upper tubular air inlet section 11, the flat disk portion 12, the annular downwardly extending arcuate skirt portion 13, four spokes extending inwardly from section 11, and terminating in the sleeve 16. The fan unit, which can also be a one-piece integral plastic molding, includes: the cylindrical shaft 17 journaled in sleeve 16 and prevented from moving axially by its integral annular flanges 18 and 19; while the upper portion of shaft 17 defines pinion gear teeth 20, and the lower portion of shaft 17 carries the radially extending arms 21 terminating the fan blades 22.

In operation, and as shown in the drawings, a plastic flexible toothed rack 23, having handle 24, can be inserted between the rack guide 25 molded integrally with two of the spokes 15, and pinion gear 20. The sides 26, 27, and 28 of guide 25 serve to support said rack 23 and guide it into meshing toothed engagement with the teeth of pinion gear 20. The shell or body 10 is then held by the child, e.g. at portion 11, and the pulling means, eg rack 23, is rapidly pulled away from body 10 by means of its handle 24. This rapid pulling will spin the tan which will draw air into tubular section 11 above said fan and discharge the air outwardly around the periphery of the bottom edge of the annular skirt portion 13 below said fan. Once the rack is pulled completely out of engagement with the vehicle, the vehicle can now be placed above a surface 32 and released by the child whereupon it will float above surface 32 upon a cushion of air. Due to the slot 14 in the rear lower edge of skirt 13, a jet of air will escape through said slot so as to propel the vehicle forwardly on its air cushion. The simulated figure of a man 29 steering the vehicle by means of simulated steering wheel 30 adds additional weight to the forward portion of the vehicle, causing the vehicles front end to tilt downwardly. This tilting will also tend to drive the vehicle in a forwardly Istraddle sleeve 16 as shown in FIGURE 2.

' 3,229,419 Patented Jan. 18, 1966 direction since the propeller unit will be correspondingly tilted. In order to improve the stability of the vehicle and minimize rotation of the vehicle about its vertical axis due to friction between shaft 17 and sleeve 16, two small strips 31, which can be of string, of flexible plastic, rubber, or cloth, or like material, or which can rigid, can be glued, or otherwise fixed onto the rear of skirt 13 so as to act as drags on the surface 32. Also, the flat FIGURE 29 will act as a stabilizing fin or vane to offer wind resistance to rotation of the vehicle around its vertical axis and further help to stabilize the vehicle against said rotation.

When the momentum stored in freely rotating fan unit is lost, the vehicle will then, of course, lose its air cushion and sink to the surface 32, where it can be retrieved by the child and again actuated.

The toy, in its simplest form and omitting strips 31, can be made of plastic, such as polyethylene, by injection molding in three parts, namely the rack, the body unit and the fan unit. The fan unit comprising integrally -molded elements 17 to 22 inclusive, can be assembled to the body unit by forcing pinion gear 20 and flange 19 upwardly through the sleeve 16 until the flanges 18 and 19 Since sleeve 16 is made of a slightly resilient plastic, e.g. polyethylene, it will stretch enough to allow passage of flange 19 through the bore of said sleeve 16, which sleeve will then resume its original shape to retain the fan unit as shown.

While the toy unit is shown including the rack 23, the vehicle can also be operated by winding a string (not shown) around the pinion gear 20 and then rapidly pulling the string oif said gear 20 to thereby spin shaft 17 and actuate the vehicle. However, the use of rack 23 is much preferred to an actuating string since said rack is easily threaded into meshing engagement with gear 20 and the rack permits a harder stroke and can be more easily operated by a child. 0n the other hand, strings become tangled, they easily break, and are slow and difficult to wind. Also, the rack 23 is preferably made of a slightly resilient plastic such as polyethylene. If a rigid or metal rack is used, it will require pulling the rack outwardly in a substantially straight line to avoid bending or breaking the rack, or prying the rack guide 25 away from pinion gear 20 thereby damaging the toy. For this reason, metal racks are not preferred.

The rack and the meshing pinion gear can take various forms other than that specifically illustrated, for example forms such as those illustrated in: FIGURES 26 to 31 of my copending US patent application, Serial No. 276,754 filed April 30, 1963, which figures and accompanying description are hereby incorporated by reference.

In order to save weight and improve performance, the body unit 10 can be formed by a combination of injection and blow molding, whereby the shell portions 12 and 13 are formed by blow molding so as to result in a very light weight wall portion, while the remaining portion of body 10 are injection molded of thicker sections.

I claim:

1. An air-cushioned toy vehicle comprising a rotatable fan mounted on a shaft, a housing journaling said shaft for rotatable movement and including an air inlet above said fan and an annular skirt surrounding said fan and extending below said fan whereby air is drawn through said inlet into said housing and then discharged from around the periphery of the lower edge of said skirt, pinion teeth defined by said shaft, a flexible plastic rack having a series of teeth on at least one side of said rack, and guide means defined by walls of said housing proximate said pinion teeth for guiding said rack into meshing 3, toothed engagement with said pinion teeth upon insertion of said rack between said guide'means and said pinion teeth, said rack then being pullable out of said engagement to spin said shaft and said fan.

2. A toy vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said housing is formed with weight means on its forward portion which tends to tilt said forward portion downwardly to thereby tilt the horizontal axis of said fan whereby said fan propels said vehicle forwardly.

3. A toy vehicle according to claim 2,wherein said weight means is substantially flat and offers wind resistance to said toy rotating about its vertical axis.

4. A toy according to claim 3, wherein a member fixed to the rear of said housing acts as a drag upon the surface References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 7155,446 3/1904 Butcher 46-67 X 2,642,698 6/1953 Fishburne 4675 X 2,997,254 8/1961 Mulgrave et al 180-7 3,082,977 3/1963 Arlin.

FOREIGN PATENTS 743,102 1/ 1956 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES Walton, H.: Making a Model Air Sled, Popular Science, May 1960, pages 156158 relied on.

above which the vehicle is moving to stabilize said vehicle 15 RICHARD PINKHAM Examineragainst rotation about its vertical axis.

L. J. BOVASSO, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN AIR-CUSHIONED TOY VEHICLE COMPRISING A ROTATABLE FAN MOUNTED ON A SHAFT, A HOUSING JOURNALING SAID SHAFT FOR ROTATABLE MOVEMENT AND INCLUDING AN AIR INLET ABOVE SAID FAN AND AN ANNULAR SKIRT SURROUNDING SAID FAN AND EXTENDING BELOW SAID FAN WHEREBY AIR IS DRAWN THROUGH SAID INLET INTO SAID HOUSING AND THEN DISCHARGED FROM AROUND THE PERIPHERY OF THE LOWER EDGE OF SAID SKIRT, PINION TEETH DEFINED BY SAID SHAFT, A FLEXIBLE PLASTIC RACK HAVING A SERIES OF TEETH ON AT LEAST ONE SIDE OF SAID RACK, AND GUIDE MEANS DEFINED BY WALL OF SAID HOUSING PROXIMATE SAID PINION TEETH FOR GUIDING SAID RACK INTO MESHING TOOTHED ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID PINION TEETH UPON INSERTION OF SAID RACK BETWEEN SAID GUIDE MEANS AND SAID PINION TEETH, SAID RACK THEN BEING PULLABLE OUT SAID ENGAGEMENT TO SPIN SAID SHAFT AND SAID FAN. 